[Let's see now.... dust... check... gravel... check... great roads... check... on with the report!]
When we drop back down off of White Oak Mountain, the road starts following Sugar Creek.
We hit CR 19 and start heading in a more Northeast direction a few miles until we come to CR 879. This is a seriously squiggly road on the map so I am hoping it will be a lot of fun.
It starts out simple enough...
It obviously sees very little traffic...
Soon the road turns to a trail, still two track though. We are having to go over and under pine trees that are laying over the trail. I later learn from a local that this is the result of ice storms not long ago. Pine trees will bend all the way over to the ground sometimes without snapping their trunks. Unfortunately, they never straighten back up after the ice melts. So we take turns holding up low lying trees while the other riders go under. Then there are just the normal low hanging branches from other trees that reach out to smack me in the face or rake along my neck under the helmet
The "road" twists and wanders, up and down, yet our track still shows us to be on a road that shows on the map. There are even a few little side roads where I make a few wrong turns and we have to backtrack a few hundred feet to get back on the right path. We finally reach a point where the road becomes more rock and dirt and actually looks like a small road again. Here it starts to climb. It becomes rutted and rocky with tree roots sticking out from the sides.
Stopped for a break under one of the lazy pines
Yes, it is much steeper than it looks...
Getting the bike off the side stand was a chore here
A few hundred feet back from where I am now parked, I had asked Bob to wait while I explored up the hill a bit to make sure the road followed the GPS map. So he stopped his bike while waiting. Unfortunately, because of the slow speeds and hot weather, his bike was burping up radiator fluid into the overflow. It did not want to restart. So we decided to take an extended break and let it cool off.
A nice level spot on the hill side just large enough for all the bikes
Looking back down the hill
After a few minutes, Bob tries kicking over the XR and it fires to life. The rest of us suit up and get rolling. We start climbing again, rocks kicking out from under the bike making the back end kick around. The KLR just chugs away with no worries. Bob has taken the lead, followed by Chuck. Roger is behind me. We reach a section that gets quite a bit steeper. There are those erosion control humps in the trail, so I am launching over those and landing in the loose rocks on the far side. About midway up the hill, I happen to glance down at the GPS and realize that our track is now moving away from the indicated road on the map... Hmmm... I don't recall seeing another turn anywhere?
I stop and Roger pulls up next to me. I can see Bob and Chuck through the woods just up the hill a few hundred feet. I start honking my horn hoping they'll turn around. No dice. So I run up to get them. They are stopped at what appears to be a large tee intersection. The area is wide and flat. The crossing trail looks like it has been maintained in the not to distant path. There is some kind of finely crushed black rock that has been put down as a bed for the trail. However, none of this is on the map and I don't have any idea where it will lead. The turn we missed shows that the road only goes a short distance further before hitting another main road that is on our route. For the sake of time, I decide to attempt to find our missed turn. So we head back down the hill.
About 2/3rds of the way back down, I come to a small flat area where the map indicates the road goes off in a more Easterly direction. Sure enough, there is a two track trail running off under the trees. It is very grown though. However, it looks like we can get through on the bikes, so off I go. The trail soon starts getting harder and harder to pick out, but there are two tracks. The KLR is pushing down small pine trees while I dodge low hanging branches from larger trees. After a few hundred yards of this, the visible trail just disappears. Once again we are slightly West of where the map shows the trail should be. Roger takes off into the woods in the direction of the trail and disappears... I can hear him motoring around and it sounds like he is moving back in the direction where we just came from. So we fire up the bikes and backtrack to our last turn off where Roger joins us. He found nothing.
Well, at this point we are faced with backtracking all the way to CR 19, which would not be a bad ride, but I really want to find a way through on this road. After all, the whole point of being here is to scout out routes for a future ride and I REALLY want this road to be on the route!! So we decide to run back up the hill again to that big tee intersection and follow one of the branches to see where it goes. CR 20 is to the North and West of us and the road we are trying to get to is just to the Northeast, so if the tee roads go through at all, they will likely hit one of these roads and we'll quickly be back on route. Best of all, this road will then be part of a future route
Although, I don't think I'd recommend it for any of the big bikes unless the rider is very experienced.
We climb back up the hill to the tee intersection and I decide to go right. That has the best chance of hitting our original goal. However, the road soon starts curving back to the West, away from our goal. Oh well, it is a fantastic road so we might as well run it out and see where it goes
It rounds the base of White Oak Mountain and heads almost due West. We are heading right back to where we were earlier, closing a complete loop around the mountain. Sure enough, we soon reach CR 20 again. However, when we drop out off the small road, we come up on the back side of a locked gate
It is obvious that a LOT of traffic goes around this gate as there is a wide area to the side of it that is well worn with quad tracks. However, there was no gate or signage anywhere on the South end of the road to indicate it is closed. So it is a tough call for future riders. If a Ranger catches you coming out of the gate, odds are you are going to have a tough time convincing him you did not come in that way as well. Having a GPS track showing how you got there might help... Of course, this entire loop could be left out of the route, but that would mean missing the climb to the top of White Oak Mountain and this great little "county road", which would be a real shame.
Anyway, we hope back on CR 20 and resume our Eastward course. We soon reach the intersection of CR 20 and 19. Recall that it was 19 that we had been running when we got to the South end of the fun road CR 879. Just in case using 879 is not possible, I want to run 19 back down to make sure it would serve as a bypass for a future ride. So we head South on 19, which turns out to be a really fun road! It drops down off a big hill into a small valley below where we find a recreational/camping area with a big swimming hole. This is Sugar Creek again. We cross the creek and continue South. Soon we are back at the South end of 879 again. So we have our bypass. We turn around and head North back to CR 20 to get back on route.
As we are heading back, I see a local hanging out in his front yard and decide to stop in to see if he will chat with me a few minutes. He notices me pulling up to his yard and comes over to see what I want. At first he's a little suspicious, but his curiosity gets the best of him. I pull off the helmet and kill the engine. The other guys wait back up on the road in a shady area. When the guy sees my GPS he gets real curious. Seems he's been wanting to get one and he's got lots of questions. I explain what we've been doing, show him our track, and explain how we are trying to lay out routes for a future ride while trying to make sure we stay off of private land. He seems to like that we are working hard at that. What is crazy is that this guy has lived here for YEARS and had no idea about CR 879, which is literally just over the hill and on the edge of his own property!!
Nor did he know about the roads that we found which eventually dropped us out onto CR 20 at the locked gate. I guess if you've got no reason to go over the next hill, you just never do...
It's hard for me to even conceive of living in such a small world... So anyway, we have a nice visit. I don't find out much in the way if useful information. We shake hands and I rejoin the others. We head back through the recreational area and climb back up the big hill, then we're back on route.
It's getting on into the afternoon and the heat is cranking up good, as is the humidity. The road leads down off the mountain into the flat areas below where the roads are straight and tend to run along pasture fence lines. We pick up Garner Rd., and head East. Soon though, it looks like the road dead ends into someone's farm. My experience has been that as long as I stay on the road and don't start driving into a pasture or something, even if there is someone there they won't usually bother me. so we stop at the start of the drive up to the house and I check the GPS. It shows the road going on East of here. I zoom wayyy in and sure enough, the map shows a corner just beyond our present location. I look that direction and see a dark shaded road, very narrow and lightly traveled, that follows the fence line back into the woods... There's no gate, so off we go!
Immediately this road gets fun. It is narrow and rough, twisting into the woods. We do a dry creek crossing with lots of large loose rocks. We start doing some mild climbing, the road widening a bit and straightening out. Moments later we are zooming along the base of the Northern slope of Hole In The Ground Mountain, a short 1341 foot peak, which are also called Knobs around here. We run Garner Rd., East to Dry Creek Rd., and cut North. The road is wide and smooth with big turns. So yeah, the dust starts getting kicked up pretty good again
In fact, I am having so much fun I neglect to see that we are supposed to turn and just keep on trucking...
When I do realize we're off route, I do a quick map check and see that we can just make a loop on some other roads and get right back to where we are supposed to be. This area is still relatively remote, however there are a lot of homes up in the woods. From the condition of the homes, I am guessing folks in this area are quite poor. The contrast between their homes and what most of us are probably used to strikes me in the moment. This is an awesome area to be living. Are they really so "poor"? The older I get, the less things like fancy houses and new cars matter to me. I find that I am far more concerned with enjoying friends and family apart from all the stresses of modern life. I see several large gardens, chickens, and even some goats. It may not be a life of luxury and leisure... but still...
As I am checking out the GPS and doing my on the fly rerouting, some movement on the side of the road catches my eye. I look up to see a little dog running as if its life depended on it. It is just hauling down the edge of the road. I idle up behind it on the far side of the road, just in case it goes suicidal, but it finally darts off into the weeds. Just ahead of it though is another little dog, realll little... This thing is a tiny little pup. The legs are maybe 1-1/2 to 2 inches long at most. They are moving so fast that they are almost a blur. Even over the sound of the motor, the tires crunching gravel and with my earplugs, I can hear the little pup yapping up a storm. It is both incredibly pathetic and hilarious at the same time. This little dude runs what must be close to 20 yards before bailing into the weeds!! I would imagine his little heart was about to explode!! Anyway, we get back up to speed and soon loop back onto our route, picking up the start of Wilderness Road.
The start of Wilderness Road is a nice winding 1000 foot climb up on to a ridge that connects Dry Creek Mountain, Flood Mountain, and Petit Jean Mountain, which peaks around 2400 feet. Somewhere along the line, Wilderness Road becomes CR 30 and then shortly after dead ends into CR 29. Here we start a descent from 2200 feet down to 700 feet in the space of about a mile. The road is rough, looking like it may have been recently graded. There is a loose soft sand of a few inches deep with scattered large rocks and branches mixed in with the sand. In some places, the road is steep and I can see through several S curves in a row, cutting down between them all. i really have to watch the speed because it is easy to start picking up some serious momentum on this slope. With all the loose road material, there won't be any effective heavy braking going into some of the sharp corners. Even at slow speeds the bike is sliding around and wiggling its way through the corners. About half way down I pull over to stop and just take it all in...
Looking across Cedar Creek Valley to Potato Hill Mountain. just over 2200 feet high (which is fairly high for Arkansas).
One of the many switchbacks. I take these at about 10-20 mph in either first or second gear.
Bob and the mighty XR650R
After a short break, I decide to just coast the rest of the way down off the mountain to the valley below. It takes very little time before the bike is really moving! With no engine braking, I have to be careful with the brakes going into corners. Then there is the lack of rolling on the throttle coming out of corners, a feeling I am not real used to experiencing. However, it is great fun and very quiet. I reach the bottom in no time at all and soon hear the others motoring up behind me. We cut South on CR 28 a short way and then pick up CR 519 to run East along the Souther edge of Potato Hill Mountain.
CR 519 is a great road. It climbs and twists along the base of the mountain, crossing numerous small dry creeks, running through the woods, and eventually hitting CR 518 at Mill Creek. CR 518 runs down to CR 170 and we turn East again, rounding some low lying hills. We are dropping back down into the lowlands with pastures and farms.
A typical pasture like all the ones we've been seeing all weekend
Bob
Roger and Chuck
We cross a few creeks and run CR 16 and 17 all the way to AR 80 where we cruise into Danville in search of gas and food. Gas is found on the far North side of town, almost out of town. It is a large modern station on the left, just on the far side of the Petit Jean River on AR 27 just past the 27/10 intersection. Food is found on AR 10 in town at the local Subway, which happens to have a KILLER A/C
I spend a few minutes chilling in front of the coke machine while the others order their lunch... agggghhhh....
Lunch and gas taken care of, we head back out into the heat, don our gear and motor back to the mountains. We backtrack our route until we reach Moss Creek Rd (Also CR 16). As I am heading to the next intersection a little white Chevy S-10 truck loaded with kids comes around the corner. I move over to the edge of the road to give them plenty of room. Then the driver makes eye to eye contact with me and starts coming over directly at me
I can't get over any further, but at the last second he swerves back. I see all the kids laughing...
Soon we head West on CR 716. This road runs along the base of the ridge we had been running earlier, twisting in and oot of the low lying fingers of the ridge that protrude into the valley. We aren't up high, but the road is a blast. It soon starts to climb a bit and get pretty twisty. The surface is covered in gravel so once again the corners are taken pretty mellow...
There are those times where you wish you had a picture because as we all know, a picture can be worth a thousand words... Well, in this case it would be just one word, uttered VERY LOUDLY, moments before a sliding ATV collides with the front of my KLR...
The picture would have been the look on the kid's face when he realized he had screwed up bad. As I am rounding a blind corner going up hill, I am hanging to the inside of the right hand curve, hugging the edge of the ditch. My dual sporting experience has taught be about blind corners. Never take the open road for granted! In this case, I am chugging up the hill in second gear when two large ATV's come flying around the corner at me, side by side, taking up the entire road!
The kid's eye's about popped out of his head. He had no where to go because if he swerved to miss me, he'd either go into the side of the mountain or into his friend on the other side. So he locks up the brakes and gets sideways... I'm on the brakes hard, trying to force myself to look to the ditch so I might have a chance of missing him. No dice. He slides maybe 45-50 feet in the space of a heartbeat and I spear him right ahead of his back left tire. In the next instant I am laying on the ground under the bike with my foot pinned. I felt the bike come down hard on my right foot, but once again, good gear has done its job. My Sidi boots take the impact and the weight of the bike, sparing my foot and ankle. Still, it hurt!
Before the dust has even begun to settle, I see Roger at my side asking if I am hurt. Hard to know at this point as the adrenaline is still gushing through my veins. I get my helmet off as the other guys help lift the bike. I see the kid standing back a few feet looking on anxiously, obviously uninjured. A quick check of all the extremities reveals that everything moves like it should with no undue pain. Roger and Chuck help me to my feet. I put some weight on the ankle and there is only mild discomfort, no pain. I stand there a moment to catch my breath and look around...
The ATV has bounced and spun around 180 degrees to the opposite side of the road. His buddy managed to stop and pull off just ahead of us. The ATV looks none the worse for the wear. The same cannot be said about the KLR
I double check with the kid to make sure he is okay. He's fine, but a little scared looking. We start all the post accident evaluation to see what we need to do to get us all home. I ask the kid about insurance and get a less than useful answer. He tells me his Dad is on an ATV with someone else a little ways behind him and will be here in a few minutes. We'll wait and talk with him. Meantime, let's see what has happened to the KLR and make sure we get some folks around the corners to prevent any further traffic from running us over when they come around the corner.
Unless I want to do the NASCAR thing and go left all the time, I am not going anywhere
I came from this direction and saw the ATV's when I was at the same place as Chuck's bike
They came from this direction, I was on the right side of the right track in the road
We hit right about where Roger's foot is, you can see some gouges on the road. You can also see where he slid, that is his tire track to the right of my helmet, it goes back about 40-50 feet. The ATV came to rest where you see it here. I came to rest with my head right were the helmet is. The bike was mostly in the ditch on the edge of the road.
I hit him just where the rear fender meets the foot rest area. Fortunately, he got his leg out of the way some how. There is a crack in his fender where I think my bars hit as the bike rolled over the back of the ATV.
Roger and Chuck loosen the triple clamps in hopes of getting things straight enough to be able to ride the bike down off the mountain
The fender and handle bars are aligned... but not the tire...
The kid in the orange is the driver. He later tries to tell his Dad that he was on that side of the road when we hit...
Of course, his Dad doesn't take a moment to look at the scene to see if the kid's story jives with the evidence
Chuck and Roger removing the left fork, thinking they might be able to straighten it a bit...
Chuck and Roger contemplate the damage...
I'm not seeing that fork getting straightened
Nonetheless, Roger finds a few trees close together and wedges the fork in place. Then Chuck, Bob and Roger all pull on it. I think the trees might snap before the fork even budges. After a few minutes of working up a good sweat, they give up. Moments later the kid's Dad arrives on his ATV with his friends. After a few minutes of filling him in on what happened, he agrees to head down the mountain to his place and to return with a truck and trailer to help us get the KLR out of here. We grab a seat in the shade with the kid, Bradley, and wait...
Breaks my heart...
Looking back down the road the direction we came from
His Dad returns...
Trying to give a hint of the steepness of the road and blindness of the corner
When Bradley's Dad gets turned around and comes back, he stops right on top of the accident scene. When he gets out of the truck, he seems quite agitated and immediately says, "So what's this about insurance!?" Apparently, Bradley's friend mentioned that I had asked about insurance while they were going down to get the truck. I started trying to explain to the Dad how the accident happened and then both kids start lying about where Bradley was and how fast they were going. They were trying to claim he was over on the other side of the road and only going about 15 mph... Of course, with the truck and trailer right on top of all the skid marks, the Dad could not verify my story.
However, it soon becomes obvious he is not all that interested in the story. "There ain't no 'right' side of the road up here because there ain't no centerline!" "You don't have to have insurance on ATV's so we ain't got it!" "You can't go suing this boy because he's just a boy and ain't got nuthin!" "I'm the one responsible for him..." At this point, it seems a moot issue to mention that insurance is not required because the ATV's are not street legal. Moreover, because they are not street legal, they are not even supposed to be on this freaking road!! Seeing that everyone is still standing around and making no motions like we are going to be loading the bike, I realize that my ride down off the mountain now hinges on this conversation. I immediately start trying to diffuse the situation. I point out that no one is injured and that even if I were to report the incident to my insurance under my uninsured motorist, it is highly unlikely they will sue over a bike that is only worth maybe $3000 if I washed it. It takes a few minutes, but Dad finally calms down a bit and agrees to help us out.
Getting the bike loaded...
We grab the spare tire for the trailer and put it under the bike so that the bodywork is not bashing against the trailer bed. We put a strap over the bike to try to hold it down and minimize the bouncing. I climb in the back of the truck while the other guys suit up for the ride down off the mountain. We are soon HAULING down mountain!! I am thankful it was just the kid on the ATV I met up with instead of his Dad driving his truck!!
I hang on for dear life in the bed of the truck, hoping that the other guys can either keep up or remember the directions back to the guy's house!
Breaks my heart...
I am relieved to finally see the bikes catch up to us! I was starting to have flashbacks to a certain movie about tourists in the mountains of Arkansas... *que the dueling banjos...
*
We quickly arrive at the Dad's home. The other ATV's have already circled under some nice big shad trees, their riders well into their supply of Miller Lite beer. After a brief discussion, the other guys head out for Waldron, about 30 miles down the road, to get our truck and trailer. Without realizing it, I am suddenly standing there by myself as ALL THREE of the other guys ride off!!
Well... this is a bit awkward... How do I kill the next hour and a half with a half dozen guys drinking beer that aren't real sure they like me yet...
We engage in some small talk for a few minutes and then Dad heads to the back of his truck. This is where the beer is kept. EVERYONE's truck has a cooler full of Miller Lite in the back, EVERYONE!
Dad offers me a beer which I happily accept. So the conversation turns to beer. I make the mistake of mentioning having a Tecate from Heavener yesterday evening and the conversation just stops dead... "What is that!?" "A Mexican beer," I reply. "A WHAT!!??" I let it drop... I find out that all these parts are dry and the big side business is driving the 45 miles to the place where you can get beer and then selling it to local folks that either forgot to drive that far on a holiday weekend to get their own or are too lazy to do so. Soon the cell phones are ringing... "We're just hanging out here at the house with a crashed motorcycle on the trailer." "Yeah... we got beer, two bucks each or sixty for the case." "Sure, c'mon over, we're not going anywhere..." Oh great, now I have become the "big event" of the day for the locals
Soon more trucks are showing up, more beer, and the male egos kick in. The beer consumption is amazing. Chain drinking is what you might call it. Even the 16 year old kids are chugging them. Once folks are getting relaxed and the accident is not so immediate, details of the day start to filter into the conversation.
It seems the whole group had been at the local swimming hole all morning and afternoon. The beer coolers were getting low and a few other locals had shown up wanting to "borrow" some beer. I can't imagine wanting it back when they were done with it...
Anyway, the guys decided it was time to take their few remaining beers and head for home. The two kids were leading the way. A few more beers and the story turns to how well young Bradley can pilot these big powerful ATV's. "He can slide that thing from all the way over yonder clear to the mail box over there!!" All the talk is of who has the biggest, baddest, fastest, and coolest ATV. "That ol' boy has himself a 700cc ATV that will run 90mph!!" "Joe bob got him some new mag rims!!" And so it goes... I have another beer... Where are those guys!?
Pops place is on 15 acres just off AR 80, real nice.
The truck plate is readable in the original of this... just in case the names and numbers provided me don't prove to be accurate
The sun continues to get lower in the sky. The empty beer cans are taking over the place. The stories are getting louder and more exciting. "We have lots of raffles here, this is raffle country without a doubt!" "What do they raffle?" I ask. "Guns and ATV's!!" To be honest, I am kind of surprised he did not say cases of Miller Lite!
It's all good though. We've been hanging out a few hours and the guys have relaxed. Any sense of hostility is gone. Still, it has been several hours now and there is still no sign of the other guys...
Finally... I hear the rumble of the truck and trailer, the other guys have returned! With all the help standing around, it only takes a few moments to get the bike swapped from one trailer to the other.
That's Dad standing in the middle with the blue shades on his head
I shake some hands, once again confirm that I have no intent to sue over this, thank them for their help and the beers, and then we are on our way... finally! It turns out that the reason for the long trip for the other guys is that there was a nasty accident on Hwy 80 that had the entire road closed down. Two drunks passing on the double yellow met head on in a corner, driver side to driver side. One was dead on the scene. The other was extracted but his survival to the hospital was questionable. By the time we got back to the scene, the road was still closed. The drivers were gone but they were still cleaning up the vehicles. As they let us through I could see what was left of one of the cars, truck, or whatever it was. It was hardly recognizable as a vehicle except for the one wheel I could see and a seat. Otherwise, it just looked like a crumpled mass of steel. The other vehicle had already been scoped up and was heading West towards Waldron. This was a white Chevy S-10. I hope it was not the kid that intentionally swerved at me earlier... Stupid as he might be, I would not wish this on anyone...
We soon catch up to and pass the wrecker with the S10 on it. The truck is demolished in the extreme. It is all a sober reminder of how lucky Bradley and I were today. Either one or both of us could have been severely injured. I hope he thinks about that next time he is out there on that road with his buddy. However, given that he is sixteen, ten feet tall and bullet proof, I don't hold out much hope
I am getting hungry and we are still a ways from Waldron. Everything closes at 9:00pm. It's gonna be close...
We decide to just head straight for the restaurant before hitting the hotel. We make it into town with a few minutes to spare and they let us in for dinner at the Mexican place where we ate last night. We find Hardy, Dave and Wayne there already eating. My ankle is getting a little stiff now, but it is not bad. A big plate of beef fajita quesadillas and a giant cold coke makes everything better
Back at the hotel later the porch chatter begins in earnest. Dave makes me one of his special "Kool Aid" drinks which really hits the spot after a day like today!! Before it gets too late, folks start drifting off to bed. I call Beth to let her know I am fine, but the bike is not, to which she responds, "Well... it will be nice to have a little more room in the garage..."
Sometimes I wonder about that woman...
Afterwards, I take a few Ibuprofen and hit the sack. Who'd have ever thought the plywood mattress could feel so good...
Monday morning arrives and it is a beautiful day. We start packing up and trying to decide how we are going to load the trailer.
How to strap this down?
Roger and I decide the easiest thing to do is likely to be just putting the bent fork back in and seeing it we can reinsert the axle. This way the bike can stand up and we can get the straps on it. Then we can load the other bikes normally. With a little elbow grease and the assistance of a ball-peen hammer, it all goes back together again
Hardy, Dave and Wayne loading up for the long drive home
Hardy, Ray, and Wayne, strapping down Wayne's new BMW
With everything loaded, we say our goodbyes to everyone and hit the road. We roll into Huntsville about 5:00pm. Everyone gets their bikes unloaded and heads their separate ways. It's good to be home. Now I gotta start shopping for parts...
Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
So anyway, I promise that I will work on the can part and see what I can do.
It appears to have been towed back here where the road peters out and left for the vultures. I decide this is a dead end and we turn back. Back to the highway we go... 
Seeing that Roger has things well in hand, I take more pics 
Even the inside of Chuck's helmet is wet with the stagnant puddle goo... 
I finish loading up the bike and we get ready to head out. Today, we head to the Northeast.
Although, I can still see the headlights of the guys behind me most of the time, so how bad can it really be? 
